Headline inflation has settled back inside the Reserve Bank's target band, yet the weekly supermarket shop still feels punishing for many households. The gap between the official numbers and the lived experience is not imagination: it is arithmetic.
Why your grocery bill still feels out of control
Headline inflation has settled back inside the Reserve Bank's target band, yet the weekly supermarket shop still feels punishing for many households. The gap between the official numbers and the lived experience is not imagination: it is arithmetic.
Economist Brad Olsen has pointed out that while the overall annual rate has eased to around 2.7 percent, the categories households cannot avoid are still climbing hard. Food prices rose about 5 percent in the year to July, energy costs recorded double-digit increases, and insurance and council rates continue to bite. Discretionary categories, which many families have already cut back on, are much calmer and drag the average down.
That is why an average can mislead. If most of your spending sits in essentials, your personal inflation rate is well above the published figure. Frequent purchases also shape perception: you notice the price of butter and mince every week, but rarely price a new build.
The practical response is unglamorous. Review insurance and power plans annually rather than rolling over, plan meals around what is genuinely cheap in season, and treat the fixed bills that quietly creep as the real target. Small structural savings on recurring costs beat heroic effort at the checkout.
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